Meat yield characteristics of different upgraded dwarf chicken under intensive management condition

Abstract

The study was conducted with attempts to determine the effects of autosomal dwarf (adw) gene introgression from Indigenous dwarf chicken (IDC) to White Leghorn (WLH) and Fayoumi (Fay) on growth and meat yield characteristics. Experiment was carried out at the Poultry Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh for a period of 28 months from March 2013 to June 2015 under intensive management condition. In this study, the di-allele crossing between WLH, Fay and IDC produced 4 up-graded chickens viz. IDC♂ × WLH♀, WLH♂ × IDC♀, IDC♂ × Fay♀ and Fay♂ × IDC♀. The up-graded F1 generations were mated intersex to access their productivity. The up-graded F1 generations were mated intersex to access their productivity. Pre-slaughter live weight of birds significantly (P<0.001) varied by genotype, sex and genotype × sex interaction. Percentage of thigh meat, drumstick meat, dark and total meat weights was significantly influenced by genotype. Although meat yield parameters of male birds in relation to live weight were found higher than their female birds, some parameters like breast meat, liver, giblet and total meat yield were found higher in female birds than that of male birds of all genotypes. However, meat yield parameters like percentage of thigh, drumstick and total meat yield were the highest in IDC♂ × Fay♀ and Fay♂ × IDC♀ and the lowest in IDC♂ × WLH♀. From the above findings, Fayoumi mediated dwarf genotypes showed better meat yield characteristics than Leghorn mediated dwarf genotypes.